just keep your diet the same and stop drinking milk altogether (except for maybe pwo shakes if you're like me and can't do protein+water). this should be easy if you started drinking more milk when you started lifting. anyway, recent quote from rip:

I drink a ton of whole milk because I'm too lazy to prepare and eat solid food.

yeah i like the taste and it's easy protein.

i never drank a gallon of milk because i knew it was for weight gain. i drank 1/2.

drinking a quart or even less would make paying for raw milk more feasible too. zomg hippy.

6/18, Thurs, B

Squat
45x5x2
85x5
135x3
175x2
220x5x3

Very hard. I wish I recorded them, but I was running late to the gym due to work and I forgot my camera. I still have that knee stiffness thing, but it went away by the work sets and it's been barely noticeable the past couple of days, whereas when it first started sitting down was a pain. Maybe I'm getting up on my toes a little bit? Will record next time. I'll be doing 4 45s, so that's exciting.

Press
45x5x2
60x5
80x3
95x2
115x3
110x5
110x3

all sorts of fail. It's a shame too because I thought I was going great during the warmups. Right after I finished the 3rd rep of 115 I let a thought creep into my head, "you're never gonna get this up", and of course I failed. So dropped to 110. First set of 5 was doable. Second set obv killed me. Reset time?

Power Cleans
45x5x2
55x5
70x3
85x2
105x3x5

Went pretty good. One rep somewhere I tweaked my knee a little on a landing, but nothing major. When I mentally focus on really shrugging hard during the 2nd pull it goes infinitely better. When I have a lapse I do some ****ty reverse curl abortion.

Any back pain still? Or did the deadlifts cure it?

still there, some days worse than others. I really have no clue what it is. Some days it's just around my left scapula, sometimes it's also painful up near my armpits, sometimes the obliques. I don't feel it all when I'm lifting though. I'm fairly certain it's nothing like a major structural issue. Maybe I should start foam rolling like I was planning to. But damn there's only so much time in the day. There's a myofascial massage place around here, maybe I'll call them up and give that a shot.

it could be my cube set up at work. I'm supposed to get it changed. Maybe I'll email my admin tonight.

Also, I occasionally get a random, not so painful but noticeable tweak in my lower left back... maybe just under the lat, or near the oblique? I suck at anatomy.

Yeah, who knows. You still probably have a lot of damage to undo. Combine that with you natural inflexibility and it may be a while before you are mostly pain free. It should happen eventually though with a good strong core. Losing weight should also help.

I was much the same way prior to working at UPS (5'7" 205 lbs). I would easily tweak my back lifting anything and a lot of overall joint soreness. A few months of that work and subsequent lifting since quitting the job and I haven't felt any day to day back or joint pain in a long time.

I should also add that the first month and half at ups was utter hell. I hurt my back a few weeks in and had to miss a couple of days. I also had a month long bout of the worse tunnel carpal syndrome ever. Just touching my hand would send a shockwave of pain all the way to my elbow. It made working very unpleasant and the act of rolling out of bed became a chore. But it eventually faded and I felt much better. The fact that you don't feel pain already when lifting is a very good sign for the future.

Yeah I find that PCs require the most total mental focus of the SS lifts.

6/20, Sat, Workout A

I almost didn't work out today. I dunno I was just sleepy and lazy all day and sorta fasted. Not on purpose, just was too lazy to eat until ~1, where I then scarfed down 3 eggs and some left over carne asada. Before my workout I had a cliff bar and some milk. I think that was my last cliff bar. I hadn't had one in a while. I did it mostly out of convenience.

I also recorded the DL and squats today, but I'm an idiot and left my camera at the gym. I called and they have it, so I'll post them next time.

Squat
45x5x2
90x5
135x3
180x2
225x5x3

Went pretty well, I thought. I watched one of my recordings and they looked good. I think I got a few more steps up before I hit a stall. 250 would be sweet.

BP
45x5x2
75x5
105x3
135x2
150x3
135x5x2

ugh. I fail at presses. My shoulders feel smoked. Weird, because 145 last time felt OK. Reset? One more shot? Herp prz?

Deadlift
100x5
150x3
220x2
260x5

I was supposed to do 100x5x2. Maybe I did. I think I didn't. I honestly can't remember. Anyway the work set went alright. Double overhand grip is reaching it's limit. I did watch the vid after I was done. I look good on the way up, on the way down I'm losing my tightness a couple inches before the weight is down. Just need to focus. Probably need to start going in 5lb increments soon, but I'm gonna try 270 next time.

upper, outside of my knee is sore again. Both of 'em. Any ideas?

Also, any advice for ab work? I think mine are pretty weak. I can't hold a static position, like say in a crunch, without shaking uncontrollably.

i've been really looking at my knees for a while now and especially after my left knee started going crazy on me, so i looked at your squat video again. i figured it out for you imo. your knees never stop moving during the descent. they stop instantaneously at the bottom when you hit good depth, and then they start moving back again until they pause briefly while you come back up. i'm pretty sure that's the spot where they should stop moving forward on the way down. that movement is exactly what aggravates my knee fwiw... something about the knee moving forward at the moment the quad starts pulling just crushes. watch rip's squat video and you can see how his knees find their forward-most point pretty early in his descent.

ab work i just hold a weight on my chest and do situps on an incline bench. well, i don't do ab work much, but that's what i do when i do it.

hmm... I see what you're saying. How do I correct this?

I'm going to run to the YMCA right now to pick up my camera. I'll have some vids posted later this evening. They're directly from the side so hopefully the knee movement will be easier to diagnose.

Here's my lifts from yesterday:

Squat - 180x2
Squat - 225x5
Deadlift - 150x3
Deadlift - 260x5

i'd try stopping like half an inch higher in the squat and see if that helps. it seems that the extra depth you get after parallel is from your knees moving forward.

Bum bag chick likes your grunting.

I'll give it a shot. I also need to focus on knees out. I'm not very mindful of it.

yeah i was gonna ask if you were pushing your knees out much because it didn't look like you were in the vid (but i can never be sure because of camera angles)

i'm sure the knee movement and pain is somewhat related to that. When I first noticed this pain development (it's more like a stiffness.. like right where the quad meets the knee, if that makes sense), I realized I wasn't focusing on that. I did on subsequent workouts, and it improved but still occurred. This last one I didn't, and it's been a little worse. So I'll keep it in mind on Tuesday.

Do you stretch quads after?

i've been lazy with stretching. Just went for a walk so I'm going to now.

so I've been reading around. Two things I need to do:

1. Knees out
2. Squeeze the glutes

I noticed I never really actively do either of those. The glutes should help my press, too. So tomorrow I'll focus on those. If the squat warmups go well doing these two things, I might put 230 on the bar, if I think it's a little shaky I'll do 225 again.

For the press I'll give it another shot at 115. The glutes should help and I'll focus more tight abs/back as well as forearms under the bar. I should tape these.

I have a huge mental block on my OHP, every time I yank it off the rack I let that seed of doubt creep in as well.

I did 3x5@115 then couldn't even get 3 reps at 120 the next time, idk wtf is up with that.

Race to 135 yo?

deal, but the smart money is on you.

probably a combination of random stuff like sleep, diet, etc. but mainly, that's a pretty big jump in weight. i saw that you started an ss log late last year, and while maybe you haven't been following it religiously, you've still done overhead press a decent amount in your life, so you're not a rank novice any more. i dropped to 2.5lb increments within two months of my first ever overhead press workout.