Squat 3x5 185

Bench 2x5 175 1x4 175...could have gotten a fifth rep w/ a spotter but I didn't want to risk sheer humiliation

Deadlifts 1x5 155

Both squat racks were taken when I came into the gym, so I had to wait a minute and watch the two guys finish. The first guy was a bigger older dude who eventually ended up squatting with 4 45lb plates on both sides of the bar, and his hands were all the way out touching the plates while he squatted and he went all the way down to the ground. The other dude was a skinnier younger dude squatting 95lbs. and his hands were also touching the plates, so I kinda chuckled to myself and just went about my business.

On the last set of my squats, I wobbled a little on a couple of my reps, finished my set. Took the plates off the bar and sat on the bench preparing myself to start benching. Some guy came over to me and was like "Hey when you're squatting, you want to put your hands further out on the bar for your balance. They shouldn't be so close together."

I just nodded and said "Thanks bro".

Hands in as close as is comfortable, obv. This is of course assuming that you're holding the bar with straight wrists, as Rippetoe harps on.

I've also worried about pinching the **** out of my hands reracking the bar when I've had a wider grip.

skunk!

Definitely using a Rippetoe grip, and it doesn't feel uncomfortable really at all...so I'm not looking to widen it...wobbles were due to non-optimal form

Why are you so focused on lifting? If you trying to lose weight diet and cardio is what matters. Dead lifts and squats might prepare you for the NFL but you won't lose any weight...

Bobby777: please refer to post #44

Malucci: Congrats on the great success so far. I started SS a month or two ago as well and am really loving it. Get used to bros trying to "correct" your form, especially on squats (I've had a personal trainer try it twice).

I am just posting to echo others' reccomendation to get some vids posted of all the lifts you are doing. I thought my technique was solid but taking the vids and subsequently receiving advice here really helped me improve. Don't worry about looking silly; 99% of people in gyms around the world don't even know what a squat looks like so of course they'll think you look silly.

Lastly, enjoy taking a couple of months to outlift those bros who have been in the gym for years doing p90x variants.

nameonthecakeavatar.jpg

bobby777- I am also dieting, and I'm going to start doing some cardio also with this too. But building muscle will help up the metabolism, and help me lose fat, which is what I really want. To improve my body composition. So far I'm already down 7-8lbs. and feel way better about myself.

toothy- yeah I really do need to get some videos of my lifts, but as of now I have no form of recording equipment. I'm planning on upgrading my phone real soon though so I should hopefully be getting something with the capabilities to take video and once that happens I will have videos for you all to look and laugh at.

Should I be doing chin ups or pull ups, or alternate between the two?

SS recommends alternating, although it's hardly a big deal.

3x5 squats 185, my knee was kinda hurting though, so I didn't try to up the weight

3x5 85 Press

1x6 115 assisted chinups 2x5 100 assisted chinups

3x25 swiss ball crunches

So I decided today that I was going to really buckle down and do something I've never done before. A real hardcore calorie counting diet. I've dieted before and lost lots of weight, but I never really counted calories, and kept below an allotted amount, along with eating a percentage of protein, fat, and carbohydrates.

I also got my weight and body fat percentage. Right now I'm 238.8 lbs. (down 7 from last month) and 32.9% body fat, which is obviously waaaaaaayyyyy too much.

I did an SS workout today, and my knee was kinda hurting, so I really focused on form in my squatting, and I think I finally did some pretty good squats actually, by doing a lot of warmups and doing a lower weight for my work sets.

Squat 3x5 155lbs.

Bench 1x5 175 1x4 175 1x5 155 Felt weaker on my bench today so I couldn't do three full sets of 175

Deadlift 1x5 185

I'm really looking forward to continuing my SS routine, but also putting more cardio in, and the hardest work will be in the kitchen, just eating right and measuring food. I would like to lose 20% body fat at least. I don't know how long this will take, but I'm going to be here, fighting the good fight.

So I want to be eating about 240g of protein per day, 52 g of fat per day, and about 2380 calories per day. And then I'm hoping to do this for a month, get weighed again and my body fat tested (I'll be weighing myself a couple of other times during the month too) and then readjust my numbers.

Make no mistake about it, the diet will be the toughest part of this routine, but it is also the most necessary for me to really cut down the amount of fat on this body.

I think the rule of thumb for protein is 1g/lb of lean body mass so 183 or so for you.

Body Recomposition website said that he liked 1-1.5 g/lb of lean mass and liked erring to the higher side for more fat loss, so I'm going to the high end for my diet.

I went running today (well let's be honest, jogging) and for the first 5-10 minutes my lower back really was bothering me. It was like a nerve pain kinda...at least it felt like one. Has anyone had this while doing SS and then jogging? It eventually dissipated and the rest of the jog wasn't too bad. Is this something I should be worried about?

Its pretty normal for your lower back to be tight/sore when you havent run much for a while.

Yeah, but this was different from what I was used to after periods of not running, but my hips were noticeably tighter, so maybe it's just that my newfound muscle wasn't used to this pussy running stuff?

There's a thread on the SS forums about "lower back pump" while running and on SS.

I got the tight lower back/lower back pump when I was running a lot last fall. It just went away after a week or two, I don't even remember it happening. Just push through it imo.

If you think about it with all the SS lifts you are doing your lower back is working very hard, but yeah if you keep running regularly it will ease up soon enough. Icing it after running/lifting might help? I know it has helped me with groin/hip flexor pain.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm just going to push through and if it continues for a long time, or becomes unmanageable in anyway I'll get it looked at.

FWIW I get it while walking 3 miles a day. It's kinda annoying. Doesn't bother me in baseball though.

Wow, even walking? What does it feel like for you? Mine wasn't so much extreme pain or anything, as it felt like a lot of nerve discomfort, honestly, it's like if someone had you in the Boston Crab (I know, I'm going back to Rick "The Model" Martel with this) that's the kind of feeling it feels like in my lower back, like the area where my back meets my pelvis.

Boston Crab ITT



I have put so many people into this. Contrary to popular belief, putting someone in a legit Figure Four is not easy nor is it funny. It hurts like **** if you're the guy getting owned.

I've also RKO'd my fair share of friends, which is no different than a swinging Diamond Cutter (also awesome).

But yes, I have the same feeling. It's kinda just throbbing and not terribly comfortable. Wuteva. Not gonna stop me from squatting.