Hi everyone!

My story

27, male, 196lbs and 6". Currently studying for a master degree in business administration. Been lifting for 10 months. Started w/ SL5x5 but quickly went into winging it 2 or 3 times a week since my posterior chain wasn't flexible enough to squat. I stopped for 3 months during summer break because I went abroad and went out of my routine. I started lifting again this september.


Pics:

Goals:

I'm aiming to lose 30 something pounds. That would put me at 165lbs. From then, well, like most people I'd like to be stronger.

As you can see on the pictures, I have a massively fat stomach, love handles and man boobs. I brostimate my bf% to be around 30%, maybe even 35%.

I'm weak but the good thing is I can only improve from here.

So, 1 year from now I want:
- 175lbs
- BP 225lbs
- See what my abs look like for the first time in my life

Diet

My TDEE is something like 2.3k cals. I'm currently aiming to eat 1.7k cals a day w/ 110 grams of protein. I don't care much about fat/carbs as long as I stay under my calories and reach my protein.

Lifts

I run PPLPP, so 5 times a week. When I can hit the gym on saturdays, I do legs so that's a standard 6x times a week PPL about 1 week out of 3.

- BP 137lbs 5x5
- DL 175lbs 3x5
- SQ 90lbs 5x5 (I just started squatting again so I started w/ just the bar to focus on form/technique, I can def do more but form is a mystery)

Today was pull day. Good workout despite having eaten only 400cals for lunch. I'm trying to stop drinking coffee since my teeth are already bad enough. Now I take those caffeine pills. One when I wake up, one 20 minutes before working at 2pm or so.
-DL 3x45, 5x130lbs, 2x5 175lbs



Met a new PT at the gym today. He wasn't a complete moron. He told me what I already knew. I need to put my hips way back. I'll try working on mobility. I don't think my back is in danger but still need to fix it if I want to load more. Those were easy for me.

-BB Row 90lbs + whatever the smith machine bar weights so let's say 100lbs. Not convinced by the smith machine, I'll go back to the free weight style next time.

-Pullup bodyweight 1x3, 1x4
-Biceps single arm DB curls, on the seat with an inclined stuff to rest my arm. 5x8 30lbs
-Shrugs 3x12 26lbs
-DB row against the DB rack 3x5 45lbs
-3x 1min planks

Foam rolled my glutes before starting. I did some lunges yesterday so had doms.

Not flexible enough to squat seems unlikely. Rippetoe says that out of the thousands of people he's coached, only a handful was too inflexible to squat. And you appear to be able to deadlift, which is probably more flexibility challenging than squat.

Also, I think your protein could be bumped up a notch. I'm substantially smaller than you and I aim for 130g.

Best of luck, sir.

Nice OP. Good luck with your goals. Let us know if you want some form pointers and stuff.

110g protein seems low indeed. I'd shoot for 150g minimum.

Thanks! Didn't we play on stars together a lot back in 2012 or so? My SN was ADZ122. I think I remember you minraising a lot or maybe I'm mistaking.

Thanks for the kind words. I'll most definitely ask for advices for forms here or in the beginner thread. Tomorrow is leg day. I'll ask someone to snap a video of my squat and post it here.

As far as protein, I'll look into it. I'm a little sick of shakes but that's the only way I can reach 150g a day so I'll probably order a pouch from myprotein.com.

Yeah, you were one of the tougher regs for sure. If zoom hadn't killed full ring, I might still be rich.

Reasonable goals. GL.

I'm curious: Where are you doing your MBA and what motivated you to do an MBA?

Oh hai.

Bro, your deadlift is complete trash. Start by working on your setup. Have you read the starting strength deadlift setup? It's fairly easy to do and a great starting point.

Some specifics...

- You start waaaaay too low with your knees waaaay to flexed. This is pushing the bar waaaaay out in front.

- When you begin the pull, you are extending your knees way (I'll stop saying "waaay") too early which means your glutes are doing no work in breaking the bar from the floor. In reality, you want your hips and knees extending pretty much at the same time from the start.

- Your back is super flexed from the start, this is probably largely a result of your terrible setup.

^ I'll add to that; if that PT had you deadlifting like that, stop listening to him.

Ha. Yeah. "put your hips way back" might not be the right cue for you if it results in your hips shooting up like that (I result of your knees extending too soon).

I would start by watching some of the deadlift instructions here. Particularly around setting up.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Aasgaar...query=deadlift

One more thing... ditch those shoes for deadlifting (get something flat\not squishy\go barefoot). Don't underestimate the difference and extra inch or so range of motion makes to your setup.

That's some very good info. I'm pumped to DL again on friday to try this out. It seems that if you set up your feet right at the start, it's hard to get it wrong.

Snitch, what do you think of those shoes? The sole is flat and reinforced. I tried going barefoot but a PT told me it was a security/liability thing.

Tell me about it... Those were the golden ages ahah. I think my hourly was around $200 for a full year back in 2010.

I'm doing it at Rennes 1 Université, Rennes, France. I had to study something after I started losing at poker. I didn't mind economics so there I went. Graduation can't come soon enough tho.

Yep, those shoes are fine.

Basically you're looking for a slim and firm sole so that the you don't increase the range of motion (imagine deadlifting on platform shoes) and the sole doesn't result in an unstable surface (imagine deadlifting on an innerspring mattress).

Why did you prefer MBA to Ms.C Economics? I did the latter and had one elective that was co-listed with my school's MBA. I was horrified because it was so easy/stupid/pointless.


But I am guessing MBA is a more rigorous degree in Eurotardia.

Your TDEE is too low for your stats. Working out 5 times a week with your height/weight makes it about 2950.
I think you can up you cals a bit and while your at it, up your proteine as well.

PS, deadlift form looks way off, your back is going to give you a real bad time lifting like that.

Wednesday 10/26 Leg day

Such a miserable workout. I failed squat at 90lbs. I'm so weak, it pisses me off so much. Not to find any excuse but I was pretty low energy since I woke up. I think one of the reason was that last night I went out to have diner and since I didn't know what to expect I had alloted 1000 calories for the night. Turns out I ate for maybe 500 calories w/ very little carbs. That and also massive doms in the glutes and just tightness in my legs in general. Anyway, here is a detail of how the workout went.

Warmup:
Foam rolled the glutes and some dynamic stretching. I noticed these bruises on my knees, probably proof of my terrible DL form yesterday.



Squat:
Sq 1x5 45lbs, 1x5 90, 1x4 90, 1x3 90lbs

Here is the video of my failed squat. I had to ask the guy for help. 90lbs. ****. That was so humiliating. I don't know what I do wrong but I just can't activate my glutes when in the hole. Maybe someone can shed some light.

Leg curl: 3x15 75lbs
Leg extension: 1x15 110lbs, 1x13 100lbs, 1x12 70lbs. Steadily lower, maybe I should have rested more but it seemed like I didn't have any in the tank anymore.

Adductor machine: where I ****ing belong, facing the wall working on my vagina muscles. I swear I'm so pissed I wanna cut my dick, grow my manboobs and turn into a woman.

1x30 75lbs, 1x20 75lbs, 1x20 55lbs

Some HIIT for 15 minutes since a girl was on the abductor machine and responded "I'll just be 10 maybe 15 minutes" when I asked if she wanted to take turns. OK young lady.

Then I go back to the abductor machine where a pretty chick is sitting, I asked how many more sets she has, she responds "oh, I just started". OK, that's not what I asked but whatever, I proceed to ask if she wants to take turn, she says "ok sure" with a wtf is he talking about look. She proceeds to superset her workout, resting maybe 5 seconds between each set, she is done in 2 minutes. I'm smiling, that's the first time I intimidate a woman like that at the gym.

Anyway, to end this emasculating experience, some abductor machine: 2x30 100lbs
1x26 100lbs.

Fire away guys, I hope u have a good laugh.

Practice squat with lower weight 2x or 3x a week, IMO. If you want to burn out your legs in the meantime just do leg press.

And the self loathing isn't gonna help. If you want to see some stupendously low weight being moved, check out my log.

I had a chuckle about the vagina muscle part

To activate glutes in the hole try actively pushing your knees out and at the same time try to "twist the floor apart" with your feet. Basically try to grip the floor and get a feeling of trying to turn your feet outwards if that makes sense. Try it when air squatting first. You should feel immediate glute activation.

Also since you're squatting in a rack it makes sense to set the safeties at such a height you can just lower the bar onto them if you get pinned.

I just got back from live, so I can view the vid. You seem to have more than adequate flexibility to back squat to depth. You'll make a ton of quick gains just from learning how to make force with your hips/quads. The reps leading up to that fail weren't nearly slow enough for that to be a true fail IMHO.

I'll try that. I also watched rippetoe video on squatting. Everything seems to be happening at the hip and I just realized I barely ever use them.
For example, when I stand up, I usually just throw my upper body in front, creating momentum so that my quads can lift me up. That's very bad and something I need to actively work on.

I was supposed to hit the leg press right after squatting but I didn't feel like it after my fail squat. I'll do 30kg squat from now on til my form is pitch perfect.

Today is push day. I noticed reading Renton's log that my elbows flare way too much when BPing. They probably are something like 75°. I'll try to fix that, it should help me keep my core tighter. Hopefully I don't have to deload too much. I'll try posting a video.

Your squat style is a bit different to the way Rip teaches it, so don't necessarily think that just because it doesn't look like a Rip squat it is bad.

Your torso is more upright, so it's natural that you will have a more quad dominant squat. This is necessary to keep the bar over the middle of the foot throughout the lift.

Sorry, that's a bit of a brief response, I'm on my phone. Basically I'm saying "read starting strength"

Thursday 10/27 Push

From now on, I'll do weekly weight in on thursday. Thursday because sometimes I pig out on weekends and that causes a lot of fluctuations with water weight etc, usually I eat healthier on weekdays so my body has time to settle.

Morning's weight in at 87.5kg or 193lbs. Lost 1.5kg from my high on monday (but there was some water weight so who knows).

Workout:

Today was push day.

Bench Press: 1x5 45, 1x5 90lbs, 1x5 132, 1x3 143, 1x4 138, 1x5 138, 1x5 132

Here is the first set at 132lbs for 5.



DB shoulder press: 5x5 35lbs
Inclined DB BP: 1x5 35lbs, 4x5 40lbs

Rope pushdown: 3x15. These always feel awkward. Like sometimes I feel one arm is working more than the other. I'll try to switch a single arm exercise next time.

Facepull: 3x15

DB side lateral raise, arms straight: 4x10 10lbs. Love that one, form is easy to get down and you can feel the shoulders working.

Planks: 3x45 seconds.

That's it for today's workout. I'm going to bump my calories to 1.9k. I had to rest a lot between sets for my BP and the workout took 2 hours. Or maybe I hit my beginner gains as far as chest goes and there is nothing to do but wait for the cut to be over. We'll see.

Friday 10/28 Pull

2 eggs for breakfast, 1 scoop of creatine, some pizza leftovers of last night, caffeine pill and there I go to the gym.

DL

2x5x132
First set:

Second set:


Sorry for the poor angle. Unfortunately, my gym is small. I felt it in my glutes on the way up. Can I load some more next time with this form?

BB Row: 10x45lbs, 10x90lbs, 3x5x132

Yeah, dunno about that...

Pullup: 3x3, 1x2

DB Row: 4x5 44lbs

DB curl: 5x6 30lbs

Shrugs: 10x3 30lbs

Hit 180 protein the last 3 days. Shakes make it easy. I have a myprotein order on the way, it should be here on monday. I also ordered this baby off amazon.