I am going to steal the set up for this log from 00snitch

Who am I?

Male, 23, Fairbanks Alaska, 6’3”, 195lbs.

Background

-played Ice hockey for the since I was around 7 years old played at a competitive level (at least for me) until I was 21 we did dry land training including longer distrance running, sprints and plyometrics but no weight lifting. Still play recreationally.

-did a body building type lifting routine from when I was 20 to 21. At the end I weighed about 215 with a pretty low body fat% probably around 12%.

-from when I turned 22 till august of last year I got almost no exercise at all while I drank heavily about 6 nights a week and ate fast food at least once a day and at unhealthy all the time. At first I lost weight while I lost my muscles but then I gained weight while I put on fat. At then end I weighed 218.

-did a hybrid body building/starting strength routine for the last semester saw fast gains at the beginning but I stagnated after about two months and spent the rest of the semester still lifting while making little progress. At the end I weighed 200lbs.

Goals

-The number one goal right now is just to get stronger

-Long term goals are to increase my athletic ability i.e. to be strong (whatever that means), to improve upon my running times for the 400m, 800m, 1600m, 5k and 10k (I am just doing these goals for fun since my dad likes to run and it would be fun to train with him over the summers.) I also want to improve my vertical jump to the point where I can dunk, right now I can grab the rim but can’t dunk. I also can’t palm a full sized ball so that my hurt my chances at this. Dunking would purely be to show off to my friends as I have no intention of ever playing organized basketball.

-Long term goal 2 is to be in good enough shape to play Ice hockey at the club level after I finish my degree in 18 months and get my masters somewhere that has a club hockey team. (I have enough skill to play division 2 club while totally out of shape but to play division 1 will require me to be in excellent condition if I want to play a lot and contribute.)

Training

I have been following the Bill Starr 5x5 from the faq while training with a friend. I am currently in the 5th week of the program. Also doing cardio on the off days which for me are Tuesday and Thursday.

The program

Monday

Warm up-Typically 10 minutes on the exercise bike.

5x5 Squats ramping up the weights (we ramp the weights for all of the 5x5 exercises)

5x5 Bench Press

5x5 Pendaly rows

2 sets of weighted hypers

4 sets of weighted sit-ups

Tuesday

For cardio I have either been playing ice hockey, playing racquetball, swimming or running. For running we run 400m intervals. For instance we would run a 400m at whatever pace we had set followed by walking 200m. Last time we did this we ran 5 400’s at what for me was a fast pace and it just killed me. I couldn’t keep the pace on the last couple of intervals. I don’t remember what pace we ran at but it was whatever my dad told me was a good pace for a beginner who was my age.

Wednesday

Warm-up

4x5 squats (going to whatever weight you used for your 3rd set on Monday.)

4x5 OH press. (We have to clean the weight off the floor and my clean form sucks so any links that could help would be appreciated.)

4x5 dead lift

3 sets of weighted sit-ups

for this day I have been adding 5 pounds to OH press and dead lift each week.

Thursday

Cardio day, If anyone has swimming programs for beginning swimmers it would be appreciated as I have no idea what I am doing when I swim right now.
Friday

4x5 squats 1x3 with weight to exceed Monday’s squat by 5 pounds and 1x8 with same weight as your 3rd set same idea for all the main lifts.

4x5 bench 1x3 1x8

4x5 pendalay row 1x3 1x8

3 sets of weighted dips

3x8 curls

3x8 triceps extensions


Diet

For my diet I have not been counting calories or anything yet. I have cut out all fast food and all drinks with calories except for alcohol. I have a few drinks probably 3 times per week and get drunk 1 time per week. I’m thinking about cutting back on this but this is already a big cut back for me and I really love beer so we will see.

log for Monday 1/15/08 this is my 5th week on the program

5x5 squat at 45, 115,155,185,205

5x5 bench we used dumbbells because it was really crowded and there was actually a line for the bench press. Weight is given as the weight for each dumbbell 45,55,65,80,90 on the 90's I got 3 reps by myself and a 4th with assistance. I guessed to high what the weight would be as compared to bench. I was supposed to bench 195 today.

5x5 pendaly row at 45,95,115,135,160.

2 sets of 10 hypers holding a 25 pound plate at the top of my head

4 sets of 10 incline sit ups holding a 25 pound plate at the top of my head for the first 2 a 10 pound plate for the third and using no weight for the fourth.

I had previously been doing the hypers and sit ups with the weight on my chest and putting it over my head was significantly harder.

looks solid

I wish I could dunk.

I might make this one of my long-term goals lol. I'm starting to think about some long term goals, benching 100kg is going to be one of them, so when someone asks me "What do you bench?", I wont be ashamed.

log for Wednesday 1/16/08

missed cardio yesterday

4x5 squats 45,115,155,155

4x5 OH press 45,75,95,120

4x5 dead lift 135,185,225,275 next week I either need to add another warm up set or start higher because the jump from 225 to 275 was to big

3 sets of 10 incline sit ups first set with a 25 pound plate over my head next two with a 10 pound

thanks for the comments guys

log for Friday 1/18/08

did cardio yesterday ran 5x400m intervals walking 200m in between

went snowboarding for 6 hours today before going to lift and I was dead in the gym but didn't miss any reps.

3x5 squats 95,135,185 1x3 210 1x8 155

3x5 bench 95,135,175 1x3 200 1x8 155

my bench form is off as one of my arms is higher then the other one during my heavier sets so I need to figure out a way to fix this.

3x5 row 95,115,145 1x3 165 1x8 115

3x10 body weight dips since I couldn't find the belt to hang a weight on

3x8 dumbbell curls with 45's 40's and 35's

3x8 rope pulls or whatever they are called for tris

whut?

also I'm on SS and my tri's are getting hit hard every day, dunno if I would add in more tri work

Not sure which part you are confused about but I'm not doing the starting strength work out i am doing the Bill Starr 5x5 its kind of different. For instance I don't do a work out A and B and rotate it I just do one work out twice every week and the other one once. I also didn't add anything the tri work for Fridays was on his site.

gym was closed on Monday for mlk day. Log for tues 1/22/08 beginning of week 6

5x5 squats 45,95,135,185,210

5x5 bench 45,95,135,175,200

5x5 rows 45,95,115,145,165

2x10 hypers with a 25

4x10 incline sit ups with a 10

1/24/08

4x5 squats 95,135,165,165

4x5 OH press 45,75,105,125

4x5 deads 185,225,255,280

3x10 incline sit ups with 10 lbs over head

Still struggling to keep good form on all my sit ups with the weight over head, might move up next week. My OH press and dead lift felt much stronger this week despite the added weight.

Forgot to put in my cardio from Wednesday, we did a little warmup then ran a timed two miles just to see where we were at and came in at just about 14minutes flat which I was pretty happy with considering how bad my cardio has felt so far. Then we played an hour of racquetball and I was pretty tired after all that.

Tonight the plan is to play racquetball for about an hour followed by a little 15 minute plyo routine then do a mile run. I have felt much better this week probably because school started so i'm not drinking/snowboarding.

1/26/08 gonna stick to a tues/thurs/sat lifting routine from now on

4x5 squat 45,115,145,185 1x3 215 1x8 155

4x5 bench 45,115,145,185 1x3 205 1x8 145

4x5 row 45,95,115,145 1x3 170 1x8 135

40 dips in as few sets as possible to get there

3x8 dumbell curls 45,45,40

3x8 one arm standing tricpet extension's 25 for all three

Monday 1/28/07 cardio day went to the gym after class ran a 45 minute interval routine on the treadmill. It started slow and the final interval was 1 minute at 4mph and 2 minutes at a little over 8mph. Gonna go play racquetball later tonight I am starting to get better at it so its getting pretty fun.

I think I need some running goals but I have no idea what to shoot for. I want to run a mile in under 6 minutes but I think I will get there easily. I need ideas for goals to run 400m, 800m, also 5k and 10k as soon as the snow melts. No idea what I should be shooting for but I am starting to feel very addicted to both the cardio and the lifting.

1/29/08 felt dead today

5x5 squat 45,115,155,185,215

5x5 bench 45,115,155,185,205 (barley got my last rep)

5x5 row 45,95,115,145,170

2x10 hypers with a 25 then 35

4x10 incline sit ups with a 10 got all my rep pretty good this time probably try to move up on thursday

Thursday ran by myself yesterday I ran 800m intervals and it was hard, ran the first one to fast and was dragging ass the rest of the time.

4x5 squat 95,135,165,165

4x5 OH press 45,65,105,130

4x5 dead lifts 205,235,275,295 jumped big on this one today because I got 280 so easy last week. My last set I kept losing my grip on my first couple attempts but then I borrowed some chalk and got my reps without to much trouble.

Played racquetball yestarday afternoon, then last night went to the gym by myself and ran
some 200m intervals. I warmed up then sprinted 200m then walked 200m I did 7 of these before the gym closed I wanted to get to 10 but its probably ok since my last couple 200's weren't really sprints anymore.

Saturday lifted

4x5 squats 45,115,155,195 1x3 220 1x8 165

4x5 bench 45,95,145,185 1x3 210 1x8 155
barely got my 3rd rep on the triple I hope I can get to 225 on here before I have to reset but I am not sure its gonna happen.

4x5 row 45,95,115,145 1x3 175 1x8 135

3 sets of dips with a 35lbs weight on a chain. I got 8,6,3 not to happy with that.

3 sets of barbell curls with 65 lbs as many reps as possible. Don't remember what reps I got

3x8 rope pulls

tuesday

5x5 squats 95,135,165,195,220

5x5 bench 95,135,155,185,210 only got 3 reps

5x5 row 45,95,125,145,175

2x10 hypers with a 25 then 45

4x10 incline sit ups with a 10

thursday skipped cardio yestarday

4x5 squats 95,135,175,175

4x5 OH press 65,95,105,135(only got 3 reps so I rested then did 3 more push press reps I need to not jump 30 pounds for my last set I think.)

4x5 Dead lifts 205,245,275,300 only got 3 reps at 300 because my grip was really slipping gonna buy chalk for next week

2x10 incline situps with 10,25

1 oblique drill my friend showed me

Saturday lifted but my friend was in a hurry today so we kinda cut the work out a bit short

squats 3x5 135,165,195 1x3 225

bench since I decided I was gonna reset my bench on Tuesday my only goal today was to put up 225

1x10 45 2x5 135,185 3x1 205,225,235failed got 225 for the first time in my life though so I felt good about that

row 3x5 95,135,155 1x3 180 1x8 145

3 supersets of pull ups/dips to failure

played raquetball for a hour and a half last night then lifted today

squats 5x5 115,135,165,195,225

bench was gonna reset this today but didn't want to wait for the bench so we substituted incline bench 5x5 45,95,135,165,185(only got 4)

row 5x5 45,95,135,155,180

hypers 2x10 35lbs

incline 3x10 25,25,19

oblique drill

then i played raquetball for a hour tonight

Yesterday did 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill with final interval at 8.1 mph for 2 minutes

Today lifted but the gym was super crowded so we changed the work out up a little bit

OH squats 4x5 45,45,45,45 never really did this exercise much plus its not a heavy squat day so I didn't push it to hard.

clean and press 4x5 75,95,115,115 I still can't clean right

dead lifts 205,255,280,305

incline situp 1x10 with a 25

incline twisting sit ups 2x10 with a 10

Our bodies have incredible muscle memory. If you got big and were in great shape at age 20-21, then do that exact same workout for a month or so, and your strength/fitness will come back much faster.

A personal trainer told my brother and I that when we were getting back into shape after taking a few years off. The results were so quick. Now that I'm back to where I was, no I'm trying to do new things. Like combining different muscles groups for workouts, changing routines, adding new excercises, doing different super sets.

today lifted

squats 4x5 45,135,185,205 1x3 230 1x8 165

bench 4x5 45,95,135,175 1x3 200 1x8 155

row 4x5 45,95,135,155 1x3 185 1x8 135

3 supersets of pullups/dips

Strength wise I'm stronger then when I was in shape before. My muscle memory got my bench from 135 to 185 very fast but after that I had to work. The big difference is that back then I ate like it was my job as putting on lean body mass was my primary concern. I no longer want to get big just strong and fit.

Ran today did a half mile warm up then ran sprints 200m on 200m off. Ran with someone else and we basically raced it was really hard, I almost puked at then end. Also about 3 weeks ago I decided to not eat bread or rice or any other processed carbs if I could avoid it and in just those 3 weeks I have noticed big changes in the definition of my abs so that is good.