being hostile because I want you to succeed

Alright I feel ya.

To be honest I'm enjoying these new lifts much more than I could have imagined. I think for multiple reasons.

1) They aren't too crowded compared to the dumbell area with the mirror and other areas of the gym.
2) When they (the cages) are crowded it's by people who aren't standing around chatting and are there just to work.
3) They just feel good in general and it's nice to have sore legs. I'm 33 now and realize the benefit of having strong legs. You really feel great days after a squat+DL workout.

Squat
2x5x155
1x5x145

Felt pretty good though I think my form suffered a bit on the 2nd set at 155 so I dropped down. I felt too much weight on my toes during the lift.

OH press
2x5x80
1x4.5x80
Would have been 3x5x80 but I only got the last rep halfway up then racked it.

DL
1x5x155

Bench press
3x5x125 Last rep was a toughy and I didn't have a spotter so I got a bit lucky to be able to get it up and lock it out but it wasn't easy.

I finally got a phone that shoots video this week so I got some form vids of Squat/DL/OH press though they are bad lighting and I only shot 1 angle of each (side). They probably aren't very helpful. Is there an easy way to load them on 2+2 without having to sign up for a YT account or google account?

Great workout!

For these, you really want the weight on your heels. Form check videos would likely be a big help.

easiest way really is to just setup a youtube account and make all the videos private

Update: Got super busy with school/life and stopped working out probably last April. Kid was born a few months later and so everything got shelved. I finished my schooling so I no longer have access to a "free" awesome gym.

I'm a fat, weak slob though 6'0" 212 and am thinking of getting back in the game. I was really enjoying the SS workouts and felt like I was getting stronger quickly.

I turn 35 in a half-year and also have wild dreams about playing 35+ baseball so I'd like to get into something resembling shape before then. Not to mention my pitching arm.

There is a YMCA about 5 minutes from my house and I can sign up for me and my wife for $82/month. They also do free childcare for up to 2 hours while you work out. Seems pretty sweet. I've never joined a YMCA but I'm guessing this is much cheaper than one of the big box macro gyms. It seems well-worth-it to skip 1 hibachi dinner per month and be able to work out near my house in what looked to be a non-crowded gym.

Any reason why I wouldn't want to sign up to lift weights at a YMCA? I did a tour today and made sure they have a real squat rack and not just a Smith machine. Looks like they have everything I need to do SS workouts, as well as a basketball court, pool, etc.

Only downside is the scenery wasn't great. Everyone looked old so I won't be able to perv on any MILFs in hot yoga pants or whatever but that's not terribly important. I'm pretty focused when I work out.

Alright I went ahead and got a 7 day free trial at the Y. Just got back from my first workout in 18 months. Felt good. I dropped down in weight a decent amount because I didn't know what to expect and it felt like I picked good weight amounts for all my workouts.

Squat
2x5x135
1x5x115

Wasn't thrilled with my form after 2 sets and the weight felt a bit much so I dropped down to 115 and had a better finish.

Bench press
3x5x115

This one was the easiest. Form fine, stamina fine, weight probably a tad light but whatever.

Long delay after the bench because the Bro employee came over to interview me about my goals. We ended up talking for like 20 minutes since he got the same college degree I did.

OH press
3x5x65
Form got better as I remembered wtf I was doing. Weight was perfect, as it was a decent amount of effort to get my final 2 reps locked out.

DL
1x5x115
Weight here was no problem but this is still the lift that I'm least comfortable wrt form so I'll probably stay low for a while. Would much prefer 45s on each side for 135 just because the bar starts higher off the ground but I'll deal with it.

All in all I felt good and drank about 50 ounces of water during the workout and 17 prior. Gym was pretty empty and I was the only BRO in the free weight area and the only BRO exhaling loudly during lifts.

I plan on going in every day and if I like the place I'll sign up. Weight 213.7. It's nice to finish a workout and feel legit hungry instead of just eating to eat all the time.

I lift at a Y and that's about what I pay for a family membership, so it sounds like a fine deal.

Nice work getting back into it; you should make progress pretty quickly.

If you're not going to DL 135, DL off some plates so you don't have to bend over too far (you're effectively doing deficit DLs at that point).

That's a great idea - thanks. Yeah man it was weird bending down that far and I felt like it screwed up at least part of my form. I will set plates down next time until I hit 145.

Sore as all hell today. Unreal how out of shape and weak I am. Apparently having an 18 month stretch where golf is your only exercise is not good. I started feeling sore within 2 hours of my workout yesterday. Feels good but I hope I'll be able to lift tomorrow.

Just texted my little brother, he's 27 and he said his maxes were:

Bench: 225
Squat: 290
DL: 405

#inspiration
#siblingrivalry

He had shoulder surgery a half-year ago and was in a sling for a long time and hasn't done **** since then. He's a little shorter than me, at 5'11" and 205. He said he was 192 when he hits those maxes.

Something to aim for is always a positive

I would caution "breathing out during reps". You do want to maintain tightness all through the rep, which usually means keeping the breath in until it is complete. At least most of the time. Sometimes a little yell or exhalation helps a tough rep, but in general...

Aidan (the author of the post just above this one) just had his Achilles reconstructed like 10 days ago and has managed to go to the gym 3-4 times since then.

Get your ass to the gym tomorrow.

I'm planning on going. Just may have to drop down a lot to get 15 reps in. I mean I can barely move lol. But definitely want to get work in every other day until the soreness goes away.

My bro thought $82 sounded high for a monthly gym. He was telling me his big box gym cost is $23/mo. I thought they were like $200+ ????????

Aiden, my exhales on the bench are basically once I lock out. Some exhaling on the way up but once I lock I blow the rest of the air out, and quite demonstratively. I actually thought I was supposed to exhale on the way out and always thought I was doing it wrong and had bad form by holding my breath.

re breathing thing: that sounds correct. holding breath = core tightness = happy spine and better performance.

God damn this city. WOAT weather.

While I'm still super sore today, I was able to squat nothing at home without too much difficulty so I figured I could put SOME weight on. Think I would have been fine on bench and OK on OH press. So anyway off to the gym I go. Get there and the entire parking lot is flooded and the building is closed. FML.

Will go tomorrow and hit it hard.

Gym wasn't flooded today so I got some work in. Still a little sore from TUESDAY (mostly quads) but I knew I'd be able to lift through it.

Squat
3x5x135

Felt good and no real issues here. Overall form was better wrt balance and control, though I felt like I was too much on my toes. This will improve with reps as it did last go around. Improvement from last workout: 1x5x20

Bench
3x5x125
Felt real good. Still no real problem getting through all the reps. Improvement from last workout: 3x5x10

OH press
3x5x65
Felt a little stronger here and better form. Maybe next trip I'll move it up to 70 but I wasn't happy enough with my lift last time so I stayed at the same weight. Improvement: N/A

DL
1x5x135
This one felt fine. I was surprised how good I felt. After my last workout I watched the form video and there was 1 thing I forgot to do which was let the bar rest directly over the middle of my feet. I made sure I did this this time and the lift seemed to go better/stronger. Improvement: 1x5x20

Weight: 213.8. I'm not really sure what my weight "goal" is right now. But it should come down a noticeable amount and I'm going to cut down on pigging out and try to eat a little better. I don't think there is any reason I should be >200.

How long are you going to bench and press in the same workout? I assume once DLs get heavy-ish, you're going to cut back the volume on them too?

I need to buy that SS book. I don't know wtf I'm doing right now. lol.

Amazing OP. I'm tempted to start a log just to see if I can exceed it.

So I just went to get my workout in and attempt power cleans for the first time and the ****ing Y is closed until noon for CHURCH SERVICE. Get in there and it's 100 octogenerians dressed to the 9s.

****ing unbelievable. They're open noon-6 today. Almost no shot I get my work in once football (and drinking) starts. lol

Alright so the early football games sucked so I got off my butt and put some work in.

Squats.
1x5x145
2x5x140

Didn't struggle too much on the first set but didn't think I could get 10 more reps in at the same weight. My muscles are still sore and don't feel very fresh yet. Last 2 sets were good. Improvement: 1x5x10 & 2x5x5

OH press
3x5x70
Felt strong here and didn't struggle until my final 2 reps. Felt a lot fresher probably b/c I didn't do bench. Improvement: 3x5x5lb

Power cleans
1x5x45
1x5x55
1x5x65

First time ever doing sets of these. I've done the motion before but never really worked them. I had no idea what weight to start with so I started real low to make sure my form felt acceptable enough and I wasn't gonna trip over myself. Final set felt like a decent little test but still probably a bit too light. Improvement: N/A - First attempt.

My muscles are recovering quicker now and I've increased my weights almost every time I've gone so I'm happy with my results and progress thusfar. Still the only dude using the squat rack.

Weight: 218.5. Just weighed myself after eating and drank a lot of water so far today. My previous all-time high was 217 so this is new territory for me ****ing bull****. Halloween candy probably has a little to do with it.

Squats

1x5x150 (+5)
1x3x150 (failed)
2x5x145 (+5)

I'm still not happy with my form. I'm too much on my toes on the way up, when I really tried to focus on staying back was on that rep that I failed on, the third of my second set. So I really need to fix this. I may stay at 145 next time and just really work on staying back.

Bench

3x5x135 (+10)
Awesome. Asked for a spot just in case but required no help to get through it and still had something left in the tank at the end.

Deadlift

1x5x155 (+20). Definitely felt heavier than last time but still no serious issue getting through it all. My 2/3/4/5 ratio is out of whack on the DL so I don't know if I'm not challenging myself hard enough here or what but I'm going to try to increase this one and get a better overall ratio if it's feasible.

Before I left I did 10 bw back extensions. Did these last time, too.

Weight: 215.0

This was my last day at the Y for my 7-day free trial. Though I just walk in and workout everytime and nobody questions me. I can probably work out for free here but I kinda made a friend out of one of the employees (guy who spotted me) so I'd hate to have him pissed at me for not paying lol. There are some other gyms nearby that offer free trials so I may do the circuit before deciding where to enroll.

GGO: While talking to my buddy and before doing my DLs, a 20-something pudgy lady came in and racked 135 and did 3 quality-form sets of deadlifts. I didn't count the reps but it was at least 5. Pretty impressed.

7-day Y trial ended but I just printed a 5-day pass at some ghetto gym nearby that is like $9.99/mo. Will see how that goes. They should have a squat rack. After this I think I can get a free week at a 24-hour fitness nearby then I'll decide on which gym to register at.

Targets for tomorrow:
Squats 155 (probably wishful thinking but my legs feel really fresh)
OHP 80 (probably wishful thinking.)
Power cleans: No real goal as I'm still new to these and want to really focus on completing the movement somewhat accurately. Will probably go 55/65/75

Day 5

Squats
3x5x155 (+7.5) Felt real good. Form felt best it has so far, even though the weight went up. I felt very strong and when I hit the moment where I thought I might fail, I was able to slowly power through without much effort.

OHP
1x5x80 (+10)
2x5x75 (+5)

Did OK on first set but I don't think I could have done 10 more reps at this weight. 75 was good and my form and explosiveness felt better anyway. I really like this lift but I seem to be very weak at it compared to others and compared to my bench.

Power Cleans
1x5x45
1x5x65
1x5x75 (+10)
1x5x95 (+30) Really focused on formwork on the first few sets and just getting the motion down (It still feels a bit strange to me as I had never done these before this year). The final set felt a little heavy but no real issues.

Back extensions
10xBW. These were super easy today and I really should have held a small plate

Lat pulldowns
1x19x80 (to failure). Just felt like doing these on the way out the gym. Used to love this pull and did like 3x10x120 a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Weight: 214.3

Overall I can't believe the results I've seen so far in just 5 trips to the gym. And I feel like next time out my bench might be up at 145 and DL maybe at 175.

In 5 trips here are my 3-times-5 increases:
squats (+27.5)
Bench (+20)
OHP (+11.7)
DL (+40)
PC (+30)

Body weight +.6 pounds